Nuance Communications has shared 3 billion medical images through its cloud-based PowerShare Network, a feat company executives hail as "an industry-first milestone."

The amount of sharing reflects steady growth of approximately 30 percent each year as the technology gains more widespread adoption in hospitals and other medical facilities, according to Nuance.

The PowerShare Network is being used by 2,000 provider organizations, including Children's of Alabama, Intermountain Healthcare, Kaiser Permanente of Georgia and Orlando Regional Medical Center in Florida. Adding the rapid adoption of the network, Nuance executives say, is a mobile app that allows physicians to view images and reports remotely.

[See also: Nuance moves into image sharing.]

According to a recent HIMSS survey, 70 percent of clinicians use mobile devices to view patient information, demonstrating the importance of this groundbreaking solution to physicians, patients and the future healthcare system.

The Nuance platform is the largest medical imaging network that securely connects physicians, patients, government agencies, specialty medical societies and others with the information needed to support improved clinical decision making and enhanced patient outcomes, Nuance officials say.

[See also: RSNA lands $10.8M to expand Image Share.]

"Nuance is driving rapid adoption of cloud-based medical image and report sharing to address the growing importance of collaborative and value-based care, and help provider organizations provide better service to referring physicians," said Peter Durlach, senior vice president of marketing and strategy at Nuance, in announcing the milestone. "This leads to better communication not just between caregivers, but also with their patients to improve patient satisfaction and promote better health."

"The PowerShare Network has overwhelmingly improved the efficiency of our clinical workflow, especially in regards to outside images," said Josh Pavlovec, PACS administrator, Children's of Alabama, in a news release. "Physicians love that they don't have to deal with a CD anymore. The network takes their mind off of whether or not they can access an image – allowing them to focus on treating patients."

As Nuance executives explain it, physicians across the care spectrum rely on medical images to properly assess patients, but they also need the associated diagnostic report to accompany these images to provide the proper diagnostic interpretation regarding a patient's condition and optimal care plan. The PowerShare Network makes these patient images and associated diagnostic reports available anywhere at any time via the cloud leveraging Nuance's own PowerScribe 360 reporting and communication platform, which is used in more than 1,600 provider organizations across North America.

[See also: RSNA Image Share Network in growth mode.]

Also, PowerShare enables provider organizations to seamlessly leverage and enhance the critical investments they have made in their electronic health records, PACS, VNA, and enterprise viewer technology via its software-as-a-service model that does not need additional custom interfaces, VPNs or dedicated hardware.